Biomorph

Subject Beta 42 glanced around this testing facility. He quickly changed his skin from its normal, pale, fragile self to the hunter green, multipurpose armour he had painstakingly made for himself. It had taken more animals than he cared to think about to make this. So much DNA absorbed. So little progress in escaping.

He knew what was coming. After the eternity he had spent here, how could he not? It was the same every cycle. This was probably going to be another test to see if their new weapons could harm him. If they could, more DNA would be forced into him, faster than his power could manage. If he wasn't harmed, then the weapon was removed, and it would be onto adaptability tests.

As predicted, the platform opened, and the newest weapon folded out of the floor. It was a standard-looking gun, as were most of the weapons tested on him. However, the military would not get this new gun for a few years, or so Beta 42 had overheard. Glancing at it, He noticed that they had changed the ammunition pack from black to red. Incendiary today, then...

Captain Bevan overlooked this testing with a mixture of horror and fascination. This seemingly normal human had become a monster within moments, with tails and extra arms flying as it dodged the rounds from the gun.

"See, Captain?", beamed the Major in charge of project Sigma Potens.

"There's nothing to worry about. That there is not a person. A person has powers that fit into either mental, or physical, categories. This 'power' does not fit, so that can't be a human!"

"But sir, why did he look like a normal human at the beginning?", Captain Bevan queried.

"Ah, Bevan. Would you not try to imitate the dominant species on a new planet? That's all this alien is doing. Imitation."

Bevan was just about to answer, when he noticed that the subject was staring directly at the mirrored glass, and directly at the Major. As he was now more humanoid in appearance, a look of fury was evident on his face.

Beta 42 was infuriated. Within 5 minutes, he had already been insulted. Switching over to infrared, he located the Major in the Room, and sent him a death-glare. He knew that the Major had pressed the Microphone button on purpose. He seethed, but started to calm down when he realized he couldn't get to the Major to do anything

However, he liked that new captain. Bevan, was it? That name would be stored, and a data file would be pulled up when Beta 42 was back in containment. He wanted to know about Bevan, and the AI in he had copied from the military servers was better than the one they had here. Thank goodness for modern AI, eh?

Half a cycle later …

Captain Bevan had finally excused himself from the meeting concerning that test subject, apparently code-named "Beta 42"

The Alpha series had all died in infancy, and Beta 42 was the last one left of the Beta series, as he was the quickest to adapt to new circumstances. The Gamma series were never started, as Beta 42 was all they needed at the moment. As soon as Beta 42 died from the imperfections in his DNA, The Gamma series would be created by basically cloning and perfecting his DNA.

Bevan shook his head, as he turned into the corridor from Biolab 1 to the corridor, ready to leave. How could he find out if Beta 42 deserved rights? And then he saw the airlock. The Airlock opened readily after scanning Bevan's credentials, but warned him with large letters:

WARNING! SUBJECT CONTAINMENT AHEAD.

Bevan smiled, and muttered, "This looks promising", and stepped through. The corridor led straight to an observation room, overlooking the holding cell. Once there, Bevan peered through the observation window. There, on the floor, was Beta 42.

He did not seem surprised that Bevan was there. In fact, he was already holding up a scrap of paper with 2 statements on it: 'DON'T SPEAK. I CAN'T HEAR WHAT'S OUTSIDE, AND YOU CAN'T HEAR INSIDE HERE.'

Bevan looked in astonishment as Beta 42 morphed the 'clothes' he was wearing, from a standard issue military uniform to a pair of forest green joggers and a turquoise t-shirt. Bevan, hand shaking, found a sheet of paper and a pen in his pocket, and used them to ask Beta 42 his name. 42 Laughed, silently thanks to the sound-dampening cell, and wrote: 'I DON'T REMEMBER.'

This silent conversation continued for quite some time, until Bevan ran out of paper. As he waved his goodbye, Bevan saw the casual clothes seemingly ripple again, and the military uniform take its place. This would probably still catch him off guard if he saw it a thousand times.

2 rotations later...

Bursting into the Major's office, Captain Bevan shouted, "If Beta 42 is not human, how come we could chat, and he understood what ... what exclusively human concepts are?" Astonished by the outburst, the Major dropped his coffee over his desk, saturating a few documents beyond recovery.

"Captain, I ask that all personnel on this base at least knock, instead of just barging in. And any sentient alien could understand these concepts. Thinking they are human exclusive is just plain egocentric.", The Major grumbled. "Anyway, what were you doing chatting to Beta 42? and who told you that designation?"

Bevan just stared in disgust at the Major and stormed out of the room. That Major! Treating Human beings like that! Something must be done about that man...

Beta 42 sat in his holding cell, analyzing the recording made of his chat with Bevan. He saw that the captain felt strongly about the rights of others, evidenced by his psyche report; his internet history; and his reaction after the conversation.

Now, just to pull a few more strings, and he would be free …

Bevan sat down in the Mary Anne, a bar just outside the town this base was nearby. He was expecting this to be the first of many nights drinking to Beta 42, so he started off weak, and just ordered a normal beer.

"Bevan!"

Bevan turned around to see his old college buddy, Dillon Beste. They had both taken parts in animal rights groups together, and Bevan knew Dillon would be interested in helping Beta 42.

"Hey, Dillon! How are you?" grinned Bevan, excited to see that Dillon was already slightly tipsy.

"Not too bad! Just got back from the Biosphere we set up in the north. All those bears can sleep easy now!" Laughed Dillon as he motioned the barkeep for a large beer.

The chatting progressed naturally, from the New biosphere, to old campaigns they went on.

Then, Bevan turned the conversation to the project he was working on. As he told the story, he started to match Dillon drink for drink. They might as well both get drunk, after all...

After an hour, they were kicked out, as they had both started shouting over the injustices that Beta 42 had to face daily.

"This is an outrage!" Yelled Dillon, as he tried to walk straight.

"I know, I know." complained Bevan, not doing much better.

"Say, Bevan, disable all the security measures tomorrow. I'll get some friends together, and we'll storm it." grinned Dillon.

"Sure! I'll even lock the labs down, so no-one can reach the weapons!" laughed Bevan, now tottering arm in arm with Dillon back to the hotel Dillon was staying in.

Beta 42 woke, and knew his plan worked, for two reasons. First, he couldn't hear the hum of the testing trolley. Second, he had woken up naturally, not by being shot. This was getting better and better...